All families deserve school choice, not just the wealthy

Now that President Trump has been in office for a little over a month, here is one idea on how to dramatically shake things up and enact bold change. Take on our educational system. For far too long, we have been hoping that by increasing spending and empowering the government, the educational system will improve. But after nearly half a century, instead of improving, things are actually getting worse.

President Donald Trump is already delivering on this by nominating Betsy DeVos, a well-known education reformer, as his education secretary. She was eventually confirmed, but not before much opposition by supporters of the status quo.

Here’s the thing. For some, the educational system works great. For the affluent and the upper middle class, picking a great school for their children is no big deal. They either send their children to their local public school, or pay the tuition to send them to a private school.

If it’s absolutely necessary, some families may even choose to move to a different neighborhood that has a better public school than to the one they had been previously assigned.

But for a huge portion of the population, things are much different. For many low-income families, the only option is sending their child to their local public school. In some cases, this works out well. In other cases, that particular school may be dangerous or lack the academic rigor to provide the child with a quality education.

This is the case all across the country and, sadly, in many places in Tennessee, including Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga.

Thankfully, many parents are speaking up and demanding change. Rather than continue waiting for the educational system to improve, many parents are demanding the same type of freedom and choice afforded to parents of means.

This is what is known as school choice and is an issue that is picking up more support as parents of all backgrounds learn about this concept.

Just recently, thousands of Americans across the country celebrated National School Choice Week, an annual celebration created to raise a spotlight on the need to have more school choice. This included around 500 families and students in Memphis.

As the executive director of Latinos for Tennessee, an organization committed to advancing and promoting faith, family and freedom, we are committed to supporting greater educational freedom for all Latino families.

This issue matters greatly to us because many Latino students enrolled in our state’s educational system are not being well served.

According to the American Federation for Children, an organization committed to increasing educational freedom, more than 100,000 Latino students are expected to enter a Tennessee school in the next year. Unfortunately, half of the state’s current Latino students did not meet the low benchmark of proficiency in reading or math according to the Tennessee Department of Education’s Report Card back in 2015.

Thankfully, a new day has dawned and Latino families — especially those with children — have much to look forward under a new administration. That’s because President Trump has promised to be the “biggest cheerleader for school choice.”

Our local elected public officials and members of the General Assembly should welcome this change of direction. Instead of encouraging greater choice, many in the state are actively fighting to maintain the status quo and prevent any effort for more choice and transparency.

The only winners if the status quo remains are the special interest groups that are more concerned about ensuring job security for their members than making sure that all children are getting the best possible education.

Political parties that claim to represent the minority community are wrong to oppose greater educational freedom. Polls consistently show that minority communities are supportive of school choice.

It’s time Tennesseans turn the page from a status quo that is leaving far too many of our children behind by welcoming increased choice and customization when it comes to education.

Our children are waiting for us to act boldly and decisively.

Raul Lopez is the executive director for Latinos for Tennessee, an organization committed to protecting and promoting faith, family, freedom and fiscal responsibility.